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[She looks at him from her chair in disdain, rubbing her sore feet] Okay.

One of the great Femme Fatales of the Film Noir entrances. With that disgusted and tired look at her boss in the Diner Stella sets the tone for a nearly forgotten masterpiece from Director Otto Preminger: Fallen Angel 1945.

“Fallen Angel” is overshadowed by Preminger’s Laura 1944 but today it is making a comeback.

This great and newly appreciated Noir from is packed with power, passion and sex. It has more wallop than I expected. In fact the shocker is like a slap in the face from a baby in a pram. It is dark and moody. The great cinematography by Joseph LaShelle turns the combined sunny locations of Orange California and Pismo Beach into a menacing and dangerous fictional beach town drenched in greed, deceit and murder. It’s dark nights are shot in great deep contrast and slashing shadows that illuminate danger rather than mask it. The music by David Raskin is haunting and perfect for the film and the screenplay by Harry Kleiner from the book by Marty Holland is sharp, and biting and in the dance scene at the bar a brilliant example of how to beat the Hayes Code to a pulp with innuendo and wit.

The cast is outstanding with the lead Dana Andrews as a shady guy on the make willing to do almost anything to get what he wants. Alice Faye turns in a subtle and deeply colored portrait of a spinster about to be taken for a ride along with Anne Revere who shines as always as Faye’s uptight doubting sister. The wonderful Percy Kilbride shows that there is much more to him than Pa Kettle. He is brilliant as a hash house burger slinger in love with the hard edged tough as nails local femme fatale Stella.

And what a fatal femme she is! Lush, gorgeous and much underrated Linda Darnell makes the aforementioned unforgettable entrance in the film and then proceeds to give us a modern no nonsense dame who knows there is only one way for her to get up and out of Nowheresville California. She cashes in on her looks and sex appeal with a biting glee and desperation that lights up the screen and nearly ignites the sets.

She plays this role with ease and a great command of the screen and shows that she was more than just a beauty in the movies. She was a movie star with great screen talent.
This is a wonderful film with a twist that will leave you gasping. Great movie and a star making performance by Miss Darnell.

***

White flowers in her jet black hair and a slink and sway that could burn a church to the ground by just walking past it leads me to ponder the type of perfume Stella would wear? Fracas is a little to easy a choice and came out a year or so after the film. She may wear white flowers in her hair but she is too earthy and hard to be that obvious. L’Air du Temps is to soft and lovely for this Siren. Those white flowers are a hiding her spiders web… she would be more pungent and almost too sweet, like near rotting plums and peaches about to turn brown in the sun. And there it is. the dark purple of Stella’s soul, bruised by too many men trying to trap her and leaving her hard and distrusting. She would wear Edmund Roudnitska’s dense and dangerous Femme from Rochas (1944) It’s dry Chypre in constant battle with the lush plum fruitiness of it makes perfect sense. Spicy, and above all like Stella, earthy and in your face. Oakmoss, leather, benzion, amber, cinnamon and vanilla add to the always changing and deceptive nature of Femme. It is indeed well named and arrived on the world fragrance stage at just the right time and place to match and meet on the Hollywood sound-stages the very fascinating creature, the deadly and enticing, Femme Fatale.

Che bella citta Roma! Vincent Minnelli’s “Two Weeks In Another Town” is pure glamour, trash, camp and Hollywood glitz. In other words it is great fun. Don’t go into it expecting anything more than over the top soap opera with the suds on overflow and you won’t be disappointed.

Rome takes center stage in the film and is shown in all its “La Dolce Vita” glory of 1962. So much was happening there at this time. The birth of the paparazzi, the filming of “Cleopatra” and the international “Jet Set” had just landed in Rome to make it the fun capital of the world. The film captures all of this with high gloss and a tip of the fedora to Fellini who had first shown a light on the goings on along the Via Veneto a few years earlier.

Kirk Douglas plays a down and out movie star just released from a mental institution / rehab center when he is invited to fly to Rome by his old director and ex friend Edward G. Robinson to take a small comeback part in his epic being filmed at the famed Cinecitta Studios. Well I don’t want to spoil the fun so all I will say is that there are plenty of gorgeous Italians running amok and lots of fabulous jewels bedecking Cyd Charisse. Tons of locations throughout the Eternal City and even an orgy! But the highlight of the film is the climactic scenic drive through the streets of Rome that Douglas takes Miss Charisse on after the orgy. That drive has to be seen to be believed! Words fail me at the sheer joy of this over wrought fun fest.

Trust me, it isn’t anywhere near the brilliance of “The Bad and The Beautiful” of which it is a kind of follow up on, But it is beautifully bad in the very best way.
The DVD says remastered. But don’t expect Blu-ray quality, it is fine nothing spectacular in it’s re-mastering. But the color is good and the picture is clear.

***

All those jewels and great gowns on Miss Charisse lead me to wonder what perfume her character would have worn? Well, it has to be nothing less than, Caleche Parfum by Hermes, a heady floral aldeyhyde with seductive notes of Iris, Gardenia, Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, Sandalwood and Amber. Those are just the notes that stand out to me. A lush, even cinematicly dramatic fragrance that is perfect of a night of abandon in Rome.

BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD
Vickie Lester knows a few things about Hollywood, past and present. One of my absolute favorite must read blogs in town. (don’t mention that I told you but her real name is Esther Blodgett.)

FRAGANTICA
Find a fragance, make friends, write reviews and connect with other frag heads!

FRAGRANCE TALK
Cubby’s site and just about the best online reviewer there is. His video reviews are the BEST!

Garance Doré
Brilliant, warm, sweet and funny, but beyond all that a great photographer of fasion and video blogger.

GRAIN DE MUSC
Denyse Beaulieu’s fabulous blog. Her book The Perfume Lover about the creation of Saville A L’aube by L’Artisan Parfumur is a must read that is next on my must read list. Thanks Katie Puckrick for turning me on to Denyse’s blog.

RIVIERA NAYARIT GRINGO
My friend Earl Miller’s blog about life in the magical town of San Pancho Mexico. Check it out and if you are heading down there stay at Earl’s Roberto’s Bungalows.

SCENT TRAILS
The Frunkinator’s great site for locating perfume brick and mortar shops around the globe. Also listed are perfume events. Great Site!

SCENTRY ~ Perfume Stories
In the words of its Editor, “We feature creative people from all over the world, and the things that connect them with perfume: fantasy, sensuality, vision, and inspiring stories.

SMELL AND TELL
The adventures of a 20 something in Romania and an obsession with fragrances. Very interesting.

SMELLY THOUGHTS
Freddie Albrighton the up and coming l’enfant terrible of perfume blogging! He is brilliant!

TOP 10 FRAGRANCES
“A blog for perfume lovers by perfume lovers.” Jasper Buckingham and his wife who are based in France have a really fine fragance blog. check it out and Jasper’s YouTube channel as well.

WHAT MEN SHOULD SMELL LIKE
From somewhere south west of Tahiti comes this great blog by my buddy Clayton. You are going to thank me for taking you to the land down under.

ZGO Blog
The wonderful and fragrant San Francisco perfume and candle shop now has a fabulous blog!

HAYDRIA PERUMERY
My friend Haydrya has a fabulous perfume house. Perfumes inspired by the glamour decades of the 20th Century from the 20’s to the 60’s. Perfumes handmade with love. Such wonderful names as “Tainted Love”, “L’Eau Exotique, and “Black Mamba”. Check it out!

HISTORIES DE PERFUMS ~ PARIS
A really exciting house…they even make a new perfume “Peter and Alice” that comes in a cupcake flacon. Look for the new “Veni, Vedi, Vici” line as well. Cardamon and Julius Caesar!

HOUBIGANT ~ Paris
The oldest perfume house in existence, founded in Paris in 1775. Marie Antoinette loved their perfumes so much that she had her coachman stop at the perfume house during her attempted escape from Paris in 1789. The house be came the perfumer to royalty

ONE SEED PERFUME
A great little niche house with a heart as big as the Outback. ” One Seed donates 10% of profits to organisations close to our heart, including Collective Shout and Australia Hope International.”

PK Perfume
Paul Kiler is a California Perfumer who creates wonderful scents inspired by the perfumes of the early 20th Century. All formulated from the best natural materials available to him.

SHAY & BLUE ~ LONDON
A brand new perfume house created by ex Senior Vice President of Chanel and former Global General Manager of Jo Malone Ltd and up and coming perfumer Julie Massé . Looks really interesting to me.

THE 7 VIRTUES ~ Perfumes
The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc. is a Canadian company that believes we must flex our buying power to empower families in countries that are rebuilding. In one instance for the Noble Rose perfume they are turning drug poppies farms in Afghanistan into rose farms

TOM FORD ~ FRAGRANCE MEN
The Ellegant and expensive Mr. Ford. His talents are many from fashion to film. His nose is beyond compare.

WEIL PARFUMS
They started out as furriers in 1912. First perfumes were to scent the fur coats.

PERFUME SHOPPING

AEDES DE VENUSTAS ~ NEW YORK
Aedes de Venustas is a great place to shop for scent in New York. They stock the impossible to find you have been searching for high and low. Just GO!

HOUBIGANT ~ Paris
The oldest perfume house in existence, founded in Paris in 1775. Marie Antoinette loved their perfumes so much that she had her coachman stop at the perfume house during her attempted escape from Paris in 1789. The house be came the perfumer to royalty

THE 7 VIRTUES ~ Perfumes
The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc. is a Canadian company that believes we must flex our buying power to empower families in countries that are rebuilding. In one instance for the Noble Rose perfume they are turning drug poppies farms in Afghanistan into rose farms

ZGO San Francisco
The most exciting new personal scent store in San Francisco. World class Perfumes, Candles, and bath soaps. Drop in for a great olfactory experience and tell them Lanier from Scents Memory sent you.

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